The objections and comments of Bill Donohue are clearly false strawmen and bigoted lies. I do not completely agree with David Silverman on the other hand tho. We do not "know" god is fake and I feel that it's simply wrong to state that. We believe god does not exist as the label atheist implies. Equating ourself with gnostic theists presents us with the burden of proof of disproving god. Billy Bigot has the burden of proof. I personally actively believe there are no gods, but i would not claim it as a fact.
Bill Donahue speaks for NO ONE but himself. He does not represent Catholics or the Catholic church. In fact, his statement against evolution is in direct contradiction with official Church doctrine (although Benny would love to reject evolution, he hasn't yet found a way to do that and at the same time not imply that JPII was, OMG, WRONG!).
I'm not a big fan of the Catholic Church (as a former member myself), but the media should really look somewhere else if they want to see what Catholics really think.
Billy boy spouting off about something he obviously knows nothing about. Way to throw those blanket statements/generalizations around recklessly Billy! Oh the humanity!
Sure we do. Thinking any of the gods mankind has made up the last several thousands years might happen to be right isn't just silly, in fact, we know them to be internally inconsistant as well as logically and factually impossible.
Unless of course, you do as some do and define "god" in such a way that it is synonymous with nature, love, or some other obscuring way.
Agreed. The point which I was pursing, was that David seemed to be placing the burden of proof on himself instead of doing the correct(in my view) thing and demonstrating the absurdity of of gods and labeling them as unproven. There are loads of gods which we can demonstrate to be fake, granted, but saying that god is fake without a proper definition or argument to that definition seems to me incorrect.
I disagree with Silverman's approach. Water does not penetrate stone through brute force, but through constant vigilance. Religion is a massive stone and we must remain steadfast and vigilant in opening the eyes of the people. I have no issues with the sign, but to say it's sole purpose is to "bring out closet atheists" is a little off track.
I wish Silverman would not say "We know the invisible man in the sky is not real."
Most American's sadly do not know that, and most theists would simply dismiss 'the invisible man' in the sky as a caricature of theistic beliefs, and therefore stop listening.
The billboards says "You know it is a myth" above an image of the three wise men and a nativity scene." I think it would work better to push that we know the Xmas story is a myth.
I suspect more will listen to that message, and it could be an effective lead into "You know what - the whole thing is nothing more than a myth."
Wow! He was on Fox twice (as seen here on AMB) and now CNN! The organization is getting a huge psy-op for its money.
He said "we." Does he mean everyone or just atheists? If he means everyone (IMO, this seems to be what he meant), then I don't think he's correct. Even about the Christmas story, I don't think everyone knows it's a myth or has doubts. (I wonder if he could have made a bigger point if he'd also mentioned that there are two quite different Christmas stories in the Bible [Mathew 1:18-2:23 & Luke 1:4-2:40]. If the pious were to run to their Bibles to read these two stories, I think it would be a score for our side.)
The billboard message looks like it's targeted to people who have been evading big or little doubts and, perhaps, have never thought about the issue at all. If some believers turn around and face their doubts head-on, the message could be helpful. Also, some that believe in the Christmas story may try to defend it to themselves but then find doubts arising on the edge of their minds. In any case, for those who've never heard the idea that the Christmas story is a myth, the idea can't be unheard and may fester over time.
I support Silverman and the billboard's message. In the last two years, since AA and similar groups have begun these sorts of advertising campaigns, they've leveraged the investments well, gaining national and local media attention far in excess of the value of the media buys themselves. In the last few years, bestsellers by Dawkins and Hitchen have raised the profile of atheism among America's intelligentsia (aka anyone who read books) but these grass roots campaigns are a necessary and important followup--helping the issue penetrate the consciousness of the great unwashed as well.
Can you prove there is no god was debated to death, very brilliantly on RD. net recently - just key in Elephant in the Room on the RD search bar. It was amazing, just thought I'd give a steer to anyone interested on how we face all this from believers.
"you know it's real" hahaha
ReplyDeleteThe objections and comments of Bill Donohue are clearly false strawmen and bigoted lies. I do not completely agree with David Silverman on the other hand tho.
ReplyDeleteWe do not "know" god is fake and I feel that it's simply wrong to state that. We believe god does not exist as the label atheist implies. Equating ourself with gnostic theists presents us with the burden of proof of disproving god. Billy Bigot has the burden of proof. I personally actively believe there are no gods, but i would not claim it as a fact.
Bill Donahue speaks for NO ONE but himself. He does not represent Catholics or the Catholic church. In fact, his statement against evolution is in direct contradiction with official Church doctrine (although Benny would love to reject evolution, he hasn't yet found a way to do that and at the same time not imply that JPII was, OMG, WRONG!).
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of the Catholic Church (as a former member myself), but the media should really look somewhere else if they want to see what Catholics really think.
Billy boy spouting off about something he obviously knows nothing about. Way to throw those blanket statements/generalizations around recklessly Billy! Oh the humanity!
ReplyDeleteSure we do. Thinking any of the gods mankind has made up the last several thousands years might happen to be right isn't just silly, in fact, we know them to be internally inconsistant as well as logically and factually impossible.
ReplyDeleteUnless of course, you do as some do and define "god" in such a way that it is synonymous with nature, love, or some other obscuring way.
Agreed. The point which I was pursing, was that David seemed to be placing the burden of proof on himself instead of doing the correct(in my view) thing and demonstrating the absurdity of of gods and labeling them as unproven. There are loads of gods which we can demonstrate to be fake, granted, but saying that god is fake without a proper definition or argument to that definition seems to me incorrect.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Silverman's approach. Water does not penetrate stone through brute force, but through constant vigilance. Religion is a massive stone and we must remain steadfast and vigilant in opening the eyes of the people. I have no issues with the sign, but to say it's sole purpose is to "bring out closet atheists" is a little off track.
ReplyDeleteI wish Silverman would not say "We know the invisible man in the sky is not real."
ReplyDeleteMost American's sadly do not know that, and most theists would simply dismiss 'the invisible man' in the sky as a caricature of theistic beliefs, and therefore stop listening.
The billboards says "You know it is a myth" above an image of the three wise men and a nativity scene." I think it would work better to push that we know the Xmas story is a myth.
I suspect more will listen to that message, and it could be an effective lead into "You know what - the whole thing is nothing more than a myth."
Wow! He was on Fox twice (as seen here on AMB) and now CNN! The organization is getting a huge psy-op for its money.
ReplyDeleteHe said "we." Does he mean everyone or just atheists? If he means everyone (IMO, this seems to be what he meant), then I don't think he's correct. Even about the Christmas story, I don't think everyone knows it's a myth or has doubts. (I wonder if he could have made a bigger point if he'd also mentioned that there are two quite different Christmas stories in the Bible [Mathew 1:18-2:23 & Luke 1:4-2:40]. If the pious were to run to their Bibles to read these two stories, I think it would be a score for our side.)
The billboard message looks like it's targeted to people who have been evading big or little doubts and, perhaps, have never thought about the issue at all. If some believers turn around and face their doubts head-on, the message could be helpful. Also, some that believe in the Christmas story may try to defend it to themselves but then find doubts arising on the edge of their minds. In any case, for those who've never heard the idea that the Christmas story is a myth, the idea can't be unheard and may fester over time.
I support Silverman and the billboard's message. In the last two years, since AA and similar groups have begun these sorts of advertising campaigns, they've leveraged the investments well, gaining national and local media attention far in excess of the value of the media buys themselves. In the last few years, bestsellers by Dawkins and Hitchen have raised the profile of atheism among America's intelligentsia (aka anyone who read books) but these grass roots campaigns are a necessary and important followup--helping the issue penetrate the consciousness of the great unwashed as well.
ReplyDeleteCan you prove there is no god was debated to death, very brilliantly on RD. net recently - just key in Elephant in the Room on the RD search bar. It was amazing, just thought I'd give a steer to anyone interested on how we face all this from believers.
ReplyDeleteI like how Bill asks, "Are we just going to accept this thing like a doormat," with a giant Isaiah 53 billboard behind him.
ReplyDeleteDid little Billy's high school girlfriend run off with an Atheist? His hatred runs deep.
ReplyDelete